Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:31 PM ET

GMED max pain

Spot (delayed)$81.83
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$82.5+0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.25±19.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.46179 puts / 391 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3045.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$29Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$77.5-5.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$75-8.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$82.5+0.8%144d
Thu, Jun 17$80-2.2%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot82.540587694112130$2M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 82.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot82.540607587.5100125204204
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GMED open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

Open-interest change: building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration; the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot82.540607587.510012511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4058769411213073%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 5040607587.5100125+$25K−$25K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.02650.01020.13-0.02-0.17
0.79-0.0267.50.01160.14-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.02700.01300.16-0.02-0.23
0.72-0.0272.50.01450.17-0.03-0.27
0.69-0.03750.01590.18-0.03-0.31
0.64-0.0377.50.01720.19-0.03-0.35
0.60-0.03800.01810.20-0.03-0.40
0.55-0.0382.50.01880.20-0.03-0.45
0.50-0.03850.01910.20-0.03-0.50
0.46-0.0387.50.01900.20-0.03-0.54
0.42-0.03900.01860.20-0.03-0.59
0.38-0.0392.50.01800.19-0.03-0.63
0.34-0.03950.01720.19-0.03-0.67
0.31-0.0397.50.01630.18-0.03-0.70
0.28-0.031000.01540.17-0.03-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot406077.5901051306590
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot405572.58597.5120659659
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 726 put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: GMED workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk